Routing ASP.NET MVC URLs with Multiple Route Values

Question

I am having problems with Html.ActionLink when I have a route that takes more than one parameter. For example, given the following routes defined in the Global.asax file:

routes.MapRoute( "Default", // Route name "{controller}.mvc/{action}/{id}", // URL with parameters new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = "" } // Parameter defaults ); routes.MapRoute( "Tagging", "{controller}.mvc/{action}/{tags}", new { controller = "Products", action = "Index", tags = "" } ); routes.MapRoute( "SlugsAfterId", "{controller}.mvc/{action}/{id}/{slug}", new { controller = "Products", action = "Browse", id = "", slug = "" } ); 

The first two routes work without problems, but when I try to create an action link to the third route using:

 <%= Html.ActionLink(Html.Encode(product.Name), "Details", new { id = product.ProductId, slug = Html.Encode(product.Name) }) %> 

Am I getting a url like [site-root] / Details / 1? slug = url-slug , whereas I would like the URL to be more like [site-root] / Details / 1 / URL slug

Can anyone see where I'm wrong?

Answer 1

He uses the first route, which is completely satisfied. Try putting the SlugsAfterId route above Default .

This basically happens: "Check the default value. Got an action? Yes. Got an identifier? Yes. Use this and run any other parameters in the query string."

As a side note, this will make your Default route redundant, as you will provide a default value for the slug parameter.

Answer 2

Harry (above) is true. You can use Mr. Route Debugger Haack for MVC. This can help solve routing problems by showing you which routes go and when.

Here is a blog post . And here is the Zip File .

Answer 3

You can add a restriction to your Routes containing "id", as it supposedly should only accept a number. Thus, the first route will only match when the "id" is numeric, then it will make the second route for all other values. Then put the one that includes {slug} at the top, and everything should work correctly.

 routes.MapRoute( "SlugsAfterId", "{controller}.mvc/{action}/{id}/{slug}", new { controller = "Products", action = "Browse", id = "", slug = "" }, new { id = @"\d+" } ); routes.MapRoute( "Default", // Route name "{controller}.mvc/{action}/{id}", // URL with parameters new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = "" }, // Parameter defaults new { id = @"\d+" } ); routes.MapRoute( "Tagging", "{controller}.mvc/{action}/{tags}", new { controller = "Products", action = "Index", tags = "" } );